Thursday, January 5, 2012

Majority
of Filipino workers in Syria have rejected the Philippine government’s
offer to repatriate them to the Philippines for free amid the worsening
political security situation in the troubled Middle East state, citing
scant employment opportunities back home, Foreign Affairs Secretary
Albert del Rosario admitted yesterday.

Del Rosario, who flew to
Syria last weekend to personally check on the progress of evacuation
efforts of the Philippine Embassy there, said many Filipinos have
expressed their desire to remain even as the government declared the
highest crisis alert in the country that calls for mandatory
repatriation of all its nationals.... MORESource: The Daily Tribune

"“Oddly enough, not a single one of them wants to be repatriated and their reason is that there is not enough economic opportunities in the Philippines,” Del Rosario told a press briefing, adding that the government cannot force them to leave if they don’t want to.

"There are an estimated 10,000 mostly undocumented Filipinos across the country working mainly as maids. They entered Syria as tourists and subsequently gained employment, earning about $150 a month."